BLT Biscuit Sliders

Let’s discuss a few things, yeah? Let’s talk about how my love for biscuits knows no end. Biscuits are like the equivalent to what doughnuts are to me on the sweet end. If you didn’t know already I happen to love doughnuts (I’d kill for one), but that’s neither here nor there. We’re talking about biscuits. Biscuits is the name of the game. We can also chat it up all day long about the many things you’d have to do to get me to eat bacon. I’ll let you in on a secret though, it doesn’t take much for me to eat a few slices of crispy bacon. And by a few I of course me, a ton of. I’d do unspeakable things for bacon. It’s okay, you can judge me. I can tell you all about my undying obsession with avocado anything and I’ll share the story about the one time I ate nothing but avocados for dinner and it was awesome. I have no regrets. We can brush up on such topics as BLT’s, sandwiches and sliders. All of which are very near and dear to my heart. Mostly because I love the idea of little hamburgers and tiny sandwiches because it means you can eat a lot more of them without feeling guilty. What? They’re tiny!

The only time I’ll eat a BLT is when I can assure myself that I’ll get a sandwich loaded with bacon. More bacon than anything else. I’ve encountered a few sad BLT’s where there’s like one slice of bacon amidst a thousand slices of tomato and a million pieces of lettuce. What kind of sandwich is that?! That’s more like a salad, if you ask me. I don’t want a salad! I want a big stacked up bacon, bacon, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. With super toasted bread, of course. That goes without saying.

So I’m brainstorming recipe ideas one day and I, for some unknown reason, keep getting an incessant craving for a BLT sandwich. It’s weird, because like I said earlier, that never happens to me. I contemplated different ways I could make it for you (for me). I knew it had to be something awesome because you need an awesome recipe. I owe it to you. I also knew there needed to be a ridiculous amount of bacon involved. It all sort of avalanched together. I had a vision to make them into sliders because sliders are just so awesome. I was eating toast with jam that day and the biscuit idea sort of called out to me like a light from the sky. Okay, so it might not have been that dramatic and magical, but for the sake of the story let’s say that it was. Anyhow biscuit BLT sliders were born. Avocado wanted to be included so I invited it to the party and called it a day. So now here we are, making and eating and talking about BLT biscuit sliders. Who would have thought? Oh, I totally did my friends. I totally did.

So this recipe might seem like a lot of work, at first. I don’t want you to worry about that though, because it’s actually no time at all. The hardest part about this recipe is finding the urge to NOT eat all of the bacon, once it’s cooked and crispy and calling out your name. Eat me. Eat me. Don’t listen to that bacon! Fight it! At least until the sliders are ready, then you can just load it up with all the bacon you want and I won’t say anything, but until then, save the bacon for later.

You can stand in front of the stove, frying up bacon in batches in a skillet, dodging the inevitable flying bacon grease, and fighting back the tears from the mess you’ve just created. Sure you can do that. Or you can do what I do which is to cook the bacon in the oven. You save yourself all of that time and you get to avoid getting burned with splattering grease. So I lay out the bacon slices (that I’ve cut in half so that they fit better in the sliders) on on a baking sheet, in a single layer.

**Tip: Line the baking sheet with a couple sheets of aluminum foil, that way you don’t have a huge mess on the baking sheet to clean up later on.**

Bake in a 425º F oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, flipping the bacon slices halfway, or until golden and crispy.

In the meantime, let’s turn our attention to the biscuits, which I think are giving the bacon a run for it’s money for the most important part of the recipe. I love biscuits, have I mentioned that before? Do you love biscuits? Maybe once or twice or a hundred times already, but it’s true. Who doesn’t love biscuits? Is probably a more appropriate question to ask. Biscuits are the loves of my life.

We need to mix together the dry ingredients first.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Give it all a good whisk so that you know it’s completely incorporated. You can just sift the ingredients together, if you like sifting. I don’t for some reason. I think it’s just too much work, so I take my chances and whisk. I like to live on the wild side of baking, what can I say? If you want to be precise and “by the book” about these things and make sure everything comes out perfectly, then sift away.

We’re going to take these biscuits a step further because I don’t know if you remember, but in the last post (Roasted Asparagus Sandwiches) I mentioned that ALL sandwiches need to have some kind of cheese in them. So here I am today, incorporating cheese into these sliders, which aren’t sandwiches I guess, but they kinda really are, so there. I’m adding white cheddar to these biscuits because I think Cheddar Biscuits are the bee’s knees.

Throw in the cheese and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula to combine.

Let’s add the heavy cream now. I know what you must be thinking, “Cream, Jonathan?!?! What happened to the buttermilk?!” I like to switch it up sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some buttermilk, especially buttermilk biscuits, but I think that cream biscuits get a wee bit fluffier and higher and these sliders definitely needed a fluffier higher biscuit to complete them. If you’ve never tried making biscuits with heavy cream before, you’re missing out. You have to try these, if not for the sliders, then just for breakfast. You won’t be able to resist.

Stir in the cream until just combined.

**Note: Do not over mix the biscuits because they’ll become tough and won’t rise as high. So mix until the dough barely comes together.**

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for just a few seconds to bring it together. It doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth. Work fast because you don’t want to warm up the dough, that’ll prevent it from rising and getting fluffy.

**Note: I don’t know if you’ve noticed but these biscuits don’t have any butter in them. I know that sounds crazy and blasphemous but the cream has enough fat in it to make these biscuits fluffy and taste great.**

Roll or pat out the biscuit dough into a large circle about ¾ of an inch thick. You want the dough to be pretty thick. Again, we’re aiming for high and fluffy biscuits. Using a small (about 2½ inches) round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut them out.

*Note: Since these are going to be sliders, let’s use a smaller biscuit cutter to make them slider size. If you’re going to be making these sliders bigger, or if you’re just making biscuits to eat biscuits by themselves, then use a bigger sized cutter!**

**Tip: When you’re cutting the biscuits, do not twist the cutter. Just push straight down. Twisting seals off the edges and we need those edges to release air which in turn causes the biscuits to get fluffy and super high. So remember, just straight down. No twisties. Also get as close to each circle as you can, so you can get the most biscuits from that first round. Mush together the scraps, flatten out and cut the remaining biscuits.**

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them liberally with melted butter. The melted butter will allow the tops to get golden brown during baking. Did you really think I’d make biscuits without including butter in some way, shape, or form? What am I, an animal?

I want to take these biscuits (and sliders in general) to the next level. I want to throw them over the edge. I want them to BLOW UP the internets. SO I thought to myself, “Self, wouldn’t it be nice and completely delicious if you (aka I) were to sprinkle some freshly cracked black pepper on top of these biscuits?!” It didn’t take long for me to convince myself…I added the black pepper. I think it adds a nice touch, plus gives the biscuits that added flavor. That surprise kick in the mouth.

Bake in a 425ºF oven for about 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown all over. You’ll start to smell the biscuits all throughout your house. Once they’re baked, remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow them to cool. You can sneak one, you know for tasting purposes. You don’t want to make sliders with biscuits that don’t taste good, right? Right. So taste one just to make sure they’re okay.

Can you tear yourself away from these biscuits for a second? I’m not sure if I can, but I’m going to try really hard. Let’s see. What else should I do…..oh Bacon!

The bacon should be done (long time ago actually, make sure to take it out of the oven). Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to remove excess grease.

We have so many good things going on here, it’s going to get really hard to resist the snacking. BUT. YOU. MUST.

You know how classic BLT’s have mayonnaise right? Well, we can’t forget the mayo in this recipe. Okay, so it’s not just regular mayo we’re going to slab on, no, we’re going to make an avocado mayo. OOOOOH AAAAH. Yeah you read that right, avocado mayo. So let’s get started. Scoop out an avocado into a small bowl. Mash and smash it with a bit of salt and pepper until somewhat smooth.

**Tip: To prevent the avocado mayo from turning brown (fast) you can squeeze in a bit of a fresh lemon or lime juice. It won’t completely prevent it, but it will slow down the process.**

That’s it. That’s all the cooking and prepping we need to get done. We’re now ready to assemble some BLT Biscuit Sliders. Well, we do need to slice the tomatoes and gather a few other ingredients (like lettuce and marmalade) but more on that later. I’ll go into these things in more detail once we get to them.

Just gather everything together to make it easier when you assemble.

So how do we begin to put these sliders together, you might ask? Well we begin by opening up each biscuit. Just splitting them in half.

You know how biscuits are always served with some kind of jam, jelly or marmalade? I couldn’t forget about that part because these are biscuits after all, so it’s crucial that I included it. I’m using marmalade because that just sounds classier than jam or jelly. Fell free to use whatever you prefer or which ever flavor you love. I’m using a sweet orange marmalade. Nothing too fancy. Just get the store bought stuff. I don’t have the time to make my own (who does really?) after all it’s just a small part of the recipe. It might seem weird to add this sweet layer, and you can skip it if you want but believe me, it’s a great flavor profile. The sweet with the savory.

On the second half of the biscuit, spread some of that avocado mayo on it.

So now we’re going to add the “L” to our BLT’s. LETTUCE. Yeah that’s right, lettuce. Feel free to use whichever kind of lettuce you like. I’m using a really leafy romaine. The kind that comes in the one bunch. (I’m like 75% sure that this indeed a romaine).

On top of the lettuce, comes the “T” to our BLT’S. TOMATOES. Since I want to be fancy and not make these so ordinary, I’m using heirloom tomatoes. Those are those colorful tomatoes you see at the grocery store. Get a few colors to mix it up.

**Note: If you can’t find heirloom tomatoes, or if you don’t like their taste for some reason, or if they’re just too expensive that day at the grocery, then regular ol’ vine ripe or roma tomatoes will do just fine. Don’t go out of your way looking for heirloom, if it’s too much of a hassle. The sliders will still taste great.**

Sprinkle the tomatoes with a bit of sea salt. For flavor, guys. Flavor.

And last but certainly not least because we actually saved the best for last, we’re going to layer that “B” of our BLT’s. BACON. That bacon we cooked earlier. There’s still some left, right? You saved a few slices for the sliders….

Place the bacon on and then close up the sliders. You can skewer them with a long toothpick if you’d like to make them look official.

I think I can finally say we’re done! Finished! No more. Let’s dive right in and eat a few of these sliders because they’re small and because they’re meant to be eaten in three’s or four’s. Don’t hold back. You can worry about dieting or eating healthy on another day. For right now, let’s not think about anything but these BLT Biscuit Sliders. That’s an order. I’m stepping in and letting you know that it’s okay to indulge every once in a while. Live a little. Don’t fret about the small stuff.

The best thing about these sliders, aside from the bacon and avocado mayo and biscuits of course, is the fact that they’re prefect for parties. What makes them so perfect for parties? I’m glad you asked, well what makes them so perfect is the fact that you can make them and not worry about heating them up. They’re just as delicious at room temperature. So make a bunch and then leave them out for people to eat throughout the party. They’re also really adorable looking because they’re little sliders. I mean, come on people! Let’s not fight it. Little BLT sliders.

If you do want to make these for a party or gathering, and don’t have all the time in the world, you can actually make the biscuits in advance and freeze them before you bake them. Arrange the prebaked biscuits on a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, transfer them to a food storage bag or an airtight container and store in the freezer. When you’re ready to bake them, just arrange on a baking sheet, brush with butter and sprinkle with black pepper. No thawing necessary, you’ll just have to add a few more minutes to the baking time.

You can also cook the bacon in advance and store it in the fridge. Right before you assemble the BLT’s you can rewarm the bacon in the oven to get it crisp once more. The only thing you won’t be able to do in advance is the avocado mayo. It’ll turn brown the longer it sits, so just whip it up just before you’re going to use it. It’s super easy to make so it won’t take any time at all.

I want to start a petition that states all sliders should only be made with biscuits. I think it should be a law. Sliders made with warm fluffy biscuits right out of the oven. Sliders with bacon and avocado mayo and lettuce and tomatoes, that’s the way to seal the deal. To make things official. If you want to make someone fall in love with you, don’t worry about flowers or candy. Forget about those things. Those are done and overplayed (not really). Make these BLT Biscuit Sliders for them, stand back, and watch as they fall head over heels in love with you.

**Disclaimer: Side affects from eating these biscuit sliders might not really cause love infatuation, but it’s worth a shot.**

Preheat oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Line another baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set aside.

Arrange bacon slices evenly on the baking sheet with aluminum foil. Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, turning over halfway through baking, or until the bacon is crisp and cooked through. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Stir in the cheese. Add the heavy cream and mix until the dough comes together. Do not over mix. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for a few seconds to form a ball. Roll or pat out the dough about ¾ of an inch thick. Cut biscuits with a 2½ inch biscuit cutter. Arrange on the baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush the biscuits with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse black pepper. Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

In a small bowl combine the mashed avocado, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, and mayo. Stir until smooth.

To assemble the BLT’s, split the biscuits in half. Spread one half with orange marmalade, and the other half with the avocado mayo. Layer with lettuce, bacon and tomato. Sprinkle the tomato slices with a bit of salt (the leftover ½ teaspoon). Top the sliders. Serve warm or at room temperature. The biscuits could be made in advance, stored in the fridge and warmed when ready to assemble. Enjoy!

I love me some BLTs. Like, a lot. The avocado is bomb, but sometimes I just go with the original and make basil mayo. Yes, they’re amazing that way. Great, now I want BLTs for dinner and that’s not what I’m making. Crud. On a side note, I made buttermilk biscuits a couple nights ago with cheddar and a whole head of roasted garlic. They did not suck at all.

I don’t believe I’ll EVER make any other type of biscuit now … Seriously, these were THE BOMB! So good! I didn’t have cream, so I used a combo of sour cream and whole milk (1/2 sc and 1/4 milk for a half recipe). They’re so light and fluffy, and yet sturdy enough to hold the fillings. Killer killer stuff, man – you are my FAVORITE person!

LOVED the biscuits! I should mention that I am a southern biscuit snob. I loved everything else about these little jewels as well. Just thought the biscuits deserved capitalization. The commentary was hilarious and much appreciated. I too, would do unspeakable things for bacon.

[…] bread from local bakery and make sliders out of it? Well, its because I saw the picture of ‘BLT Biscuit Sliders’ from ‘The Candid Appetite‘ a few weeks ago, and I got all kinds of excited. Hahaha! […]